Cygnus
by Laoise Potter
Summary: One-shot. Jane and Maura go camping.


"…I want my own bed."

Maura rolled onto her back, but didn't respond. Jane turned onto her side and frowned at the rustling noise her sleeping bag made. "Or at least _your_ bed," she mumbled.

"_Jane_."

Jane raised her voice to a stage whisper. "Maura, this isn't my idea of a fun family vacation!"

"I know," Maura whispered back. "But _this_ is what your mother decided to do for Independence Day weekend and I think we should respect that."

Idly scratching at the canvas tent wall, Jane growled incoherently for several moments. "Well I'm not running off, am I?"

"Jane."

She shoved Maura's shoulder. "Stop '_Jane_'-ing me, you sound like Ma."

"Would you rather go sleep with her?"

No, she wouldn't. Pinching her lips, Jane studied her friend's dim figure. "You can't kick me out of my own tent," she said quietly, feeling the fight seep out of her.

She felt Maura move beside her as she made to stand up. "Well, then, maybe _I_ should go sleep with her."

Though Jane was sure she didn't really intend to leave, she lunged for Maura's hand anyways. "Come _on_, you know her tent is barely big enough for one."

Maura shrugged, and in the darkness Jane saw her mouth twitch in amusement. "How about I go stay with Tommy and Frankie in their industrial-sized tent?"

"Lie _down_, Maura!" Jane asserted, and pulled her friend back down beside her.

"Well then, stop complaining, Jane. Here…" Maura stood up again, unzipping the skylight at the top of the tent to expose the night sky. "Let's look at some constellations before we go to sleep." She settled back down in her sleeping bag, inclining her head and pointing through the window. "See those two stars right there? That's Vulpecula, the Fox. Oh, and there…just below it is Sagitta, or Arrow."

It was like being hit in the head with a hammer.

"That's Albireo, the head of the Swan, Cygnus…"

As Maura prattled on about the stars above their heads, Jane suddenly grasped just how beautiful her friend was. Or…no, she didn't just grasp it. It felt more like she _remembered_ it. The idea was like some long-forgotten truth that camped out in the back of her mind until, one night, it decided to open up the skylight and expose itself to the stars. She was beautiful. Maura was beautiful.

_You're beautiful._

Maura halted in the middle of her thought and looked at Jane. "What did you say?"

A jolt of panic shot up her spine and Jane backpedaled rapidly. "I said it's beautiful. The, the swan thing. Signets."

With a shake of her head, Maura returned to her speech. "…And see those five stars? The ones that, if you connect them, look like a broken piece of Ursa Major?" She looked at Jane and rolled her eyes slightly, mistaking the look in her eye for confusion. "The Big Dipper. Anyways, that's Delpinus. And that bright star over there…" As she pointed, Maura moved her head closer to Jane's and caused the detective's heart to skip. "That is Altair, part of the Aquila constellation."

"Maura?"

She glanced over and up, seemingly unfazed by how close her face was to Jane's. Several long moments passed in silence between them, the air becoming more alive as Maura slowly began to hear the things her friend wasn't saying aloud. Her forehead creased ever-so-slightly and tensely, experimentally, she tilted her chin and watched Jane's eyes flick down to her lips, and back up again.

_Ah._

Jane couldn't string her thoughts together. She was speechless as Maura inclined her chin and her gaze was drawn briefly to _those lips_. The sleeping bag rustled as the blonde shifted minutely and her breath was hot on Jane's mouth, but she was still and the space between them remained. It was up to Jane. She was close. She was so close…

"…We should get some sleep."

It came out like a sigh, something only the stars would have heard had Maura not been _right there_. The air around them deflated, and Maura pressed her forehead to Jane's in acknowledgement, _in disappointment?_, and turned over to face the wall of the tent. Jane imitated her, silently cursing herself, and let a sleepless silence wrap around them.

Delphinus had moved completely out of sight when Maura rolled over again to see Jane had done the same thing. She studied the other woman's features for a moment before she let her gaze rest on her unblinking eyes. "What did you really want to say earlier?"

Jane's eyebrows slowly furrowed. "What?"

"I don't think you meant to say we should get some sleep." Maura let those words hang between them for a lengthy moment before she inclined her head towards Jane and whispered to her. "What were you going to say before you stopped yourself?"

_Oh_.

When Jane thought about it, she realized she wasn't actually sure what she meant to say. She moved to rest on her back and stared up at the stars. "I don't think I was going to say anything," she answered honestly after a beat. "I think…I think I just kinda wanted you to look at me." Jane pinched her lips together and rubbed her forehead. "I don't know. Something weird just came over me. I dunno. It was a mistake." She let her arm fall to her side again. "Albeero has moved."

A breeze nudged the side of the tent and their view of the stars shifted momentarily. Slowly, Maura let her gaze travel down the curve of Jane's forehead to the arch of her nose, past her mouth to the sharp angle of her chin, and she traced the detective's jawline with her eyes before she arched her neck and pressed her lips to Jane's cheek, exhaling softly into the wispy hairs by her ears. Jane waited several seconds after Maura pulled away to look at her, dim in the darkness.

"Why did you do that?"

"I wanted you to look at me."

When Maura kissed her, Jane's eyes stayed open for a moment. She needed to be sure without a doubt that it was happening. That it was all real. Her eyelids fluttered shut when Maura's mouth moved against hers and she slid a hand through golden hair, completely and blissfully fearless. Another breeze buffeted the side of the tent and stars winked in and out of view, the only witnesses to the story unfolding below them.

_Maybe camping isn't so bad after all_.


End file.
